[1. 1355]

William Heyward senior came here into the gildhall that day
[18 December] and admitted that
he had committed an offence against the mayor and community and
the leet affeerors, in that he imputed
that the leet affeerors and others of the town of Lynn had falsely
and maliciously assessed fines in the leet that were unreasonable
beyond measure. Upon which he offered to the mayor and community
compensation of £10. Of which, at the instance of Sir John de Ufford,
£9 were remitted to him and 20s. were paid. And he found
pledges for his
[future] good behaviour, viz.
Reginald de Sisterne
and Thomas de Bukworth, under penalty of paying £10 to the community
if William offended against the mayor and community or their officers
on a future occasion.

[2. 1363]

William Heyward senior came here into the gildhall on 13 January 1363
and admitted that he had committed an offence against the community,
in that after an argument had arisen between William and a certain servant
of John de Bokenham,
Thomas Drewe the
town mayor of Lynn, intervened to calm down the dispute, setting a date
for them to effect a reconciliation, to which the parties agreed. And
mayor Thomas, by authority of his office, ordered those parties that
neither of them do any harm or injury towards the other before that date,
to which they likewise agreed. [But]
before that date William came with force [and
armed] etc. and insulted John's servant and aimed to beat him.
For that offence, he offered the community £20. And because, on
another occasion of an offence against the community  that is,
in during the term of William de Swanton
 he had pledged to the community £10 should he offend again,
the community consequently now took 40s. from William and he became
indebted to the community in the sum of £7, payable to the community
without any [prospect of] it being
reduced or pardoned. The whole community was in agreement that if he
ever offended against the community again, nothing of the fine would
be remitted. [His] pledges:
Reginald de Sisterne and Roger de Byntre.

DISCUSSION

Criticism of even lesser officials could be little tolerated in a
political environment where authorities depended much on consensual
submission to rule, rather than coercion, and social control involved
promoting a belief in the communal good and loyalty to the community.
Cases such as this show that submission to the authority of local officers
could not be taken for granted, and that firm action was needed to
reinforce authority by public submission of penitent offenders or
stern punishment of the recalcitrant. A balance between severity and
clemency was what Latini recommended as
the surest way to establish authority while keeping the goodwill of
the people.

Spreading gossip in the streets or taverns could shape neighbourhood
opinion and give a focus to underlying dissatisfaction among the ruled
or bring about disharmony with the community. To ensure no disruption
to the normally peaceful status quo, it was advisable to deal with
criticism severely. Extreme cases in which an offender showed no
contrition nor preparedness to submit to disciplining could be punished
by disfranchisement, or even
imprisonment where physical assault was involved. Anticipating this risk,
most offenders chose to show themselves repentant by admitting their fault
and voluntarily offering a fine, typically a monetary payment or a volume
of wine. As submission was what the authorities most wanted, a contrite
offender would usually be required to pay only a portion of what he offered,
with the right to collect the remainder held over the offender's head as
security for future good behaviour.

A man with as low a temper threshold as Heyward appears to have been
was fortunate to have had the patronage of Reginald de Systerne, an
elderly burgess who had on a number of occasions served on the town council
between the 1340s to 60s. This may have influenced the authorities
towards leniency.

NOTES

"affeerors"
These were a jury appointed to assess fines on those convicted by
the leet court of an offence against the community.